Electoral foundations of parliamentary questions: evidence from the European Parliament

Parliamentary questions (PQs) provide a useful tool for members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to control the executive at supranational level and to promote their reputation among relevant groups (party, interest groups and constituency). Previous works have just focused on macro-functions of questions, neglecting the opportunity for MEPs to use them as a re-election and re-selection strategy (micro-functions). In this article, it is argued that PQs are a relevant instrument in the hands of parliamentarians in order to increase their reputation and build up their political image. In particular, it is considered how variation in electoral systems might affect legislative behaviour and, especially, the number of questions asked. Using a new data set on oral and written questions to the European Commission and the Council, the article demonstrates how candidate-centred electoral systems incentivise MEPs to ask more questions than legislators elected under party-centred systems.     

The ecology of trust among hackers

Malicious hackers profit from the division of labour among highly skilled associates. However, duplicity and betrayal form an intrinsic part of their daily operations. This article examines how a community of hackers uses an automated reputation system to enhance trust among its members. We analyse 449,478 feedbacks collected over 27 months that rate the trustworthiness of 29,985 individuals belonging to the largest computer hacking forum. Only a tiny fraction of the forum membership (2.4%) participates in the vast majority (75%) of ‘trust exchanges’, limiting its utility. We observe a reporting bias where the propensity to report positive outcomes is 2.81 times greater among beginner hackers than among forum administrators. Reputation systems do not protect against trust decay caused here by the rapid expansion of the community. Finally, a qualitative analysis of 25,000 randomly selected feedbacks indicates that a diverse set of behaviours, skills and attitudes trigger assessments of trustworthiness.     

The right of reputation in the Internet era1

Protecting one's reputation has arguably become harder in this time of YouTube, ‘blogs’ and mobile phone cameras. The simple truth is that it is easier to get ‘caught’ doing something inappropriate and it is easier for people to publish defamatory materials. This article is a somewhat eclectic selection of issues of particular significance to the right of reputation in our modern Internet-based society.     

浅议应收帐款的管理——对坏账准备金的思考

坏账准备金的提取是应收账款管理中重要方面之一 ,它制约着应收账款的回收效率 ,管理费用的账务处理及资产和税金的数额。国家对此制定了严格的制度、措施 ,但在实际执行中仍存在认识及处理等问题。为了体现货币时间价值 ,保证各种企业在市场经济中公平竞争 ,必须对其进一步改革。     

商誉及其侵权损害赔偿的理论和实践

本文以北京市高院首例商誉侵权纠纷案件为素材,从理论和司法实践两方面就商誉的法律概念和特征、商誉侵权的构成要件、归责原则和商誉侵权民事责任的确定进行了探讨。     

行政机关侵犯公民名誉权及精神损害赔偿责任

虽然我国现行的行政法律制度并未在行政侵权赔偿责任中确认精神损害赔偿,但违法的行政行为可以构成对公民名誉权的侵犯,并造成精神损害,在确立法治行政原则的现代社会,行政侵权赔偿中肯定精神损害赔偿,有利于衡平公共权力与公民权利,在全社会确立民主法治意识。     

美国致害诋毁侵权与诽谤侵权之比较

产权诽谤和商品贬损是致害诋毁侵权的常见形式.致害诋毁侵权与诽谤侵权有共性也有差异.致害诋毁行为的本质是对经济关系的非法干扰,其规则保护的对象是第三人与被侵权人的经济关系,维护良好的市场交易秩序是其价值追求.致害诋毁侵权与诽谤侵权有着不同的历史渊源,宪法规则对普通法诽谤侵权规则的修正不会根本性地消弭两者的差别.作为一种经济损害侵权的致害诋毁侵权具有独特的理论和实践价值.     

Signaling Resolve: Leaders,Reputations, and the Importance of Early Interactions

How do leaders develop reputations for resolve across repeated interactions? While scholars find that leaders can acquire individual reputations for resolve, we know relatively little about how these leader-specific reputations form to begin with. This article examines how leaders develop reputations for resolve from the very beginning of their tenures and present three key hypotheses regarding these leader-specific reputations. First, statements are more influential to reputational assessments during initial interactions. Second, statements create expectations of future behavior, which interact with a leader’s subsequent actions to influence reputation development. Third, initial perceptions of resolve significantly condition later assessments. Through a process tracing survey experiment, I find evidence that resolute statements are more substantively influential during early interactions. I also find early perceptions of resolve do significantly influence later perceptions. Furthermore, statements create expectations of future behavior, and it is by meeting or defying these expectations that a leader’s reputation for resolve is improved or injured within the experiment. These results remain robust even when controlling for contextual factors, including state characteristics. The implications of these findings for both scholars and policy makers are discussed, and this study illustrates how individual leaders develop these reputations for resolve across interactions.     

礼物流动模式的反向——评《礼物的流动》

《礼物的流动》的作者通过生动的社会生活交往,分析了黑龙江下岬村礼物交换原则、模式及其所反映出来的社会关系网络运行方式,发现单向送礼会导致受礼者权力和声望增加,这与以往绝大多数人类学家研究结果正好相反,可谓是礼物流动模式的反向。这对中国人类学研究具有非常重要的意义,填补了中国的礼物与乡村人际关系研究的空白。     

Drifting between accommodation and repression: explaining Indonesia's policies toward its separatists

A central government facing separatist activities adopts various policies to respond to them. In some cases, the government represses them harshly, while in other cases, it tries to accommodate the separatists’ demands. We currently have two strands in the literature to understand which policies are implemented by the government: the reputation theory and the cost-benefit calculation model. However, neither of them is sufficient to explain Indonesia's policies toward its separatists in Aceh and Papua following democratization. Indonesia's policies toward separatists have been drifting between accommodation and repression. To understand these policy shifts, this paper emphasizes the importance of the inner workings of the central government, introducing two variables: the preferences of national leaders and the existence of veto players. This paper demonstrates that these perspectives are essential in order to fully explain the Indonesian government's policies toward its separatists.